blessing



(No Model.)

J. H. BLESSING.

WATER PURIPYING APPARATUS.

Patented Mar. 20, 1888.

#1 i 6 in 3 Em x 11 1 Z mm m L J R, r. M I H a J I NrTEn STATES ATENT FFICE" JAMES H. BLESSING, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

WATER-PURI FYING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,673, dated March 20, 1888.

Application filed January 3, 1886. Serial No. 223,231. (No model.)

.7 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Janus H. BLESSING, of the city and county of Albany, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in iVatenPui-ifying Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in water-purifying apparatus in which the filtering material is cleansed by reversing the direction in which the currents of water pass through the filtering-chamber, and in which the operation of cleansing said filtering material is aided by disturbing and stirring up said material by means of mechanical agitators; and the objects of my improvement are to provide an effectual sand or gravel screen for preventing the filtering material from being carried out of the filtering-chamber, the said sand screen being located in a chamber directly beneath the filtering-chamber provided with a revoluble agitator for mechanically stirring up the sand or gravel of which the said sand screen is composed, and to provide a reliable apparatus for purifying water and other liquids. I attain these objects by means of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are herein referred to and form part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of my appara tus through the center line thereof; Fig. 2, a vertical section taken at right angles to Fig. 1, with internal parts in the filtering-chamber shown in elevation; Fig. 3, a plan viewof my apparatus; Fig. 4, a horizontal section at the linema: of Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a detached plan view of the valve-seat, and Fig. 6 an inverted detached plan view of the current-reversing valve.

As represented in the drawings, A is the cylindrical casing of the filteringchamber A. Said casing is secured to the basepiece B, which is provided with a central inner cylinder, B, whose lower end is closed by a removable head, I). A perforated partition, 0, is fixed near the bottom of the inner cylinder, B, and a like partition, 0, closes over the top of said chamber for the purpose of forming the gravelehamber 1) between said partitions and the filtered-water chamber l)", beneath the lower partition. \Viregauze or finely-perforated sheet metal a is fixed across the openings of the partitions O and O, and the chamber b is filled with gravel or coarse sand whose grains are sufficiently large to prevent them from passing through the meshes of the wire gauze screensc. The grains of gravel orcoarse sand contained in the chamber 1) constitute a sand-screen which prevents the particles of filtering material contained in the chamber A from passing through the chamber Z1 and into the filtered-water chamber N.

A bonnet, D, is fitted to close the top of the casing A. Said bonnet is provided with a port, (1, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,) which leads directly into the chamber A. A passage, d, is also made in the top of said bonnet, and from said passage a pipe or stationary hollow shaft, d, is carried down centrally through the chambers A and 1) into the filteredwvater chamber If.

The filteringchamber A is nearly filled with a suitable filtering material, which preferably consists of a moderately-fine beach-sand. A skeleton shaft or frame, E, which terminates in a sleeve, 0, at its upper end, and at its lower end in a sleeve, 0, that passes through the upper partition, 0, and into the chamber b, is fitted to rotate on the stationary hollow shaft d Said skeleton shaft is provided with a series of radial arms, 6, which, when the shaft E is rotated, serve as agitators for disturbing the particles of filtering material in the filtering-chamber A, and the arms 0 attached to the lower part of said shaft, perform the same function upon the gravel in the chamber 1). A gear-wheel, F, secured to the upper part of the shaft E, engages with a pin ion, G,.which is fixed to a shaft, 9. The latter is provided at the outside of the casing A with a hand-crank, g, which affords the means of imparting the requisite rotatory motioirto the shaft E.

The valve-seat H, secured to the top of the bonnet D, is provided with two inductionports, h and h, the first of which communicates with the port d, (leading directly into the filtering-chamber A,) and the other com municates through the passage d with the pipe (F, that leads directly into the filtered-water chamber 6. Said valve-seat is also provided with two eduction-ports, h" and if, the first of which communicates with the discharge-pipe h, by which the filtered water is conveyed to the required points, and the port if communicates with the waste-water pipe h, by which the waste water, contaminated by cleansing the filtering material, is conveyed to a drain or other outlet. The two induction-ports are located at opposite ends of the valve-seat H, with the induction-port hand cduetion port if formed at one side of the longitudinal center line of said valve-seat and the induction-port h and eduetion-port h at the opposite side of said center line.

The valve I is fitted to slide on the valveseat H, and is'provided with two independent pass-over passages, i and i, the first of which, when the valve is moved in one directiomwill form a communication between the inductionport h and eduction -port h and the other (when the valve is moved in an opposite direction) will form a communication between the induction-port h and eduction-port h but in any position in which said valve is placed it will cover both of said eductionports. The valve-chest'J is fixed on the valveseat H and incloses the valve 1. The valve-stem iflwhich is attached to the valve I, connects the latter with the hand-lever K, and by said lever the valve I can be operated, as occasion may require.

A supply-pipe, L, conducts the water from the source of supply into the valve-chest J, and from thence the water flows through one of the induction-ports (either It or it) into the filtering-chamber A.

The operation of my apparatus is as follows: To filter the water'the valve I is moved to the position shown in Fig. 1, where its pass-over passage 2' will form a communication between the induction port h and eduction port h". The inductionport h will then be open to permit the water entering through the supplypipe to pass directly into the filtering-chamber A, in which, by passing downwardly through the filtering material, the impurities that are held in suspension by the water will be deposited in and retained by said filtering material, and the purified water, after passing downward through the gravel in the cham her I), enters the filtered water chamber b and from thence passes upward through the central pipe, 03', passage d, inductionport h, pass-over passage t, and eductionport h and thence passes out through the discharge-pipe h to' the place where it is to be delivered. This action continues until the interstices between the particles of the liltering material become so filled and clogged by the impurities defecated from the water that the flow of the water through the appara tus will become checked. The process of filtration should then be stopped and the operation of cleansing the filtering material begun. This latter operation is effected by moving the valve 1 to the opposite end of the valve-seat H, thereby closing the induction port it and opening the induction-port h. Thereupon the water will pass down through the inductionport it, passage (2, central pipe, (2, into the filtered-water chamber D. From thence the water passes up through the grave] in the chamber b, carrying with it any of the filtering material from the chamber A that may have been caught and retained by the gravel in the chamber 1), and,thence passing upward through the filtering material in the chamber A, it washes out the impurities deposited in said filtering material. The said impurities are carried upward by the current of Water through the induction-port h, pass-over passage i, and eduction'port k into the wastewater pipe 7L5. During the process of filtration the filtering material in the chamber A becomes impacted so densely that the shaftjfi cannot be rotated; but as soon as the direction of the current of water is reversed (to cleanse the filtering material) the particles of the latter become loos ened and separated, so as to permit said shaft to be revolved freely, and the radial arms 6' on said shaft will agitate and disturb the particles of said filtering material tosuch a degree that the impurities deposited thereincan be readily carried away by the water-currents. The arms a in the chamber 7; will during the rotation of the shaft E agitate the gravel in the chamber b, so as to liberate any partieles of the filtering material held therein, and the water-currents will return said particlesto their place in the chamber A.

I claim as my invention 1. In a filtering apparatus, the combination, with a sandscreen composed of gravel contained in a chamber that underlies the filtering-chamber, of a revoluble agitator arranged within the said sand-screen, to operate as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. In a filtering apparatus, the combination, with a filtering chamber, A, which contains the filtering material whereby the suspended impurities are removed from the water. a sandscreen contained in the chamber 1), which sep arates the said filtering-chamber from the filte'red-water chamber 11 a valve-seat, H, having two oppositely located induction ports, one leading directly into the filteringchamber A and the other communicating through the central pipe, d, with the filtered-water chamber b", the said valve seat also having two eduction-ports, one leading into the filteredwater dischargepipe and the other leading into the waste-water outlet, and a slide valve fitted to reciprocally open and close said ports, of a revoluble agitator fitted to rotate on the central pipe, (1 and provided within the filtering chamber A and sand screen chamber bwith radial arms 0 and 6 arranged to operate as and for the purpose herein specified.

JAMES H. BLESSING.

\Vitnesses:

JOHN W. WHnELooK, WM. H. Low.

IlO 

